Allman Brothers Band Works Its Psychedelic Blues Magic Articles / Music Posted by Lana on Oct 02, 2001 - 06:07 PM Cleveland Plain Dealer 08/17/01 Anastasia Pantsios About 4,000 to 5,000 hardy classic-rock lovers braved a downpour last night to hear the Allman Brothers Band work its psychedelic blues magic at Blossom Music Center. Thirty-two years after its formation, the ABB contains three original members: vocalist/keyboard player Gregg Allman and drummers Butch Trucks and Jaimoe Johanson. Guitarists Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes, bassist Oteil Burbridge and percussionist Mark Quinones are more recent additions. Yet the band has stayed true to the sound that made it famous: swamp blues boiled in a vat of rock 'n' roll. The ambiance of the show, if not the sound, had a lot in common with the Grateful Dead. You could tell the minute you walked in and saw the big audience microphones on tall stands and the fluorescent mushroom banners on stage. The band's 2½-hour show was presented without a lot of frills, other than a screen on which images were projected. The band walked on stage and spent a couple of minutes tuning up before attacking its opening number, "Statesboro Blues." With a few exceptions, such as the acoustic-flavored "Melissa" with Allman switching to guitar, the band alternated between dense, uptempo blues tunes and sparser, slow ones. Though the band left plenty of space for Trucks and Haynes to solo - displaying both their technical proficiency and heartfelt emotion - most of the tunes didn't feel overlong. Only about a half-dozen of them evolved into prolonged jams. Of course, one of the longest and most embellished was a crowd favorite: the inevitable "Whipping Post" played as an encore. As always, Allman's mournful organ and unearthly wailing are ABB hallmarks. Though his lyrics are garbled to the point of being completely inarticulate, Allman conveys a world of emotion in his tone. Haynes handled vocals on some tunes, offering a contrasting, earthier approach. The vocals generally took a back seat to the band's dynamic, aggressive blues-rock instrumentals. Several numbers were entirely instrumental. Of those, a sizzling rendition of "Jessica" was a standout. Trucks and Haynes only occasionally played the dual unison lead guitar that was also once an Allman trademark. When they did, it created a weird sensation, since both originators of that sound, Duane Allman and Dickey Betts, are gone from the band. Susan Tedeschi, a talented singer/guitarist somewhat in the Bonnie Raitt mold, opened the show. She and her three backup musicians played a 50-minute set that didn't restrict itself to blues. It touched on folk rock, soul, funk, blues and even reggae. Pantsios is a freelance writer from Cleveland Heights. This article is from Hittin' The Web with The Allman Brothers Band   https://hittintheweb.com/ The URL for this story is:   https://hittintheweb.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=31